Victima del mal agüero

Chester Morris is considered a top man with a wrecking ball; he's also got a reputation as a jinx, due to a couple of job site accidents. Doggedly cheerful, he rescues down-and-out stranger Jean Parker as she's thrown out of a bar for stealing. She tells him her only option left is the river; he follows her down to the bridge, chatting the whole way about never giving up, making one more try, and so forth. Finally he pauses and leans against a bridge rail, continuing to comment on her joke about the river as she walks away. "I knew it was just a gag," he says, "I just wondered how it was gonna pay off." --Splash.

Needless to say, he jumps in and saves her—a change in his luck! Soon, job foreman Richard Arlen appears on the scene and also takes an interest in Parker….and their love triangle story runs alongside the larger plot of this ambitious B movie about the men—and women—who clear away old buildings to make way for the new, encountering danger and conflict at every step.

Morris's energy carries the show along; he talks faster, climbs more recklessly, loves his friends more devotedly than anyone else on the screen. Richard Arlen is steady and solid, the sensible character who shares mutual respect with Morris despite their different styles. Arlen really doesn't have much to do in the picture….or is he just overshadowed by Chester making all the noise? Parker, as the girl loved by both, is charming and lively enough.

Joe Sawyer is quite good as a one-time major league pitcher who just needs to save up a little more money to get the elbow operation which will allow him to make his comeback. (From their ball-tossing scenes, it appears that Morris may have played some ball at one time, Sawyer not so much.) Esther Dale is quite wonderful as the wrecking company owner—trying to hang on to her late husband's business, she is referee, guide and mother as much as employer.

The climactic scene is genuinely exciting—the tension builds, the acting is good, a rousing music score helps overcome the rather hapless (even for 1942) demolition site special effects.

An enthusiastic piece of work that aims high and mostly succeeds.

The Dollar Bills produced one of their usual competent action Bs with this flick. Chester Morris and Richard Arlen are two of the guys who tear down old buildings so someone else can put up new ones. The only problem is that Morris is a jinx. However, when he rescues Jean Parker from throwing herself in the river, his jinx vanishes and the two men can compete over her while knocking down a building for boss Esther Dale.

One of the pleasures of looking at Pine-Thomas productions is that they offered roles to old-timers whose careers were not as prosperous as they once had been -- thus Arlen, Morris and Miss Dale. Further down the cast list are such notable performers as Evelyn Brent, as the widow of a crew member who was killed; Nigel de Brulier as a priest; and Byron Foulger as a missionary worker.

Although the story line is fairly predictable -- Pine-Thomas always went with minor variations on proved winners -- there are some good thrill sequences, showing the dangers in the trade of the wreckers. While no award winner, it's a pleasant movie with proved -- and cheap -- talent.

This is one of the worst films I have ever seen. In these days of health and safety regulations, PPE, risk assessments and method statements, it is impossible to believe that characters like those played by Richard Arlen, Chester Morris and Joe Sawyer behave in such a foolhardy way, violating just about every rule in the health and safety book. Even in those days H and S. played a part in the demolition operation particularly of a large hotel. Even worse is the fact that Morris and Sawyer play it so broadly that the audience were supposed to laugh at their antics. A character plunges to his death, but no one seems to either be upset or learn anything from the tragedy.No wonder Esther Dale's demolition company is going bust! On the plus side the special effects are OK for a B picture,Jean Parker is pretty and Esther Dale does her usual sterling character work. Of interest to movie buffs is down-on-her luck former star Evelyn Brent in what amounts to a bit part. Producers Pine- Thomas known in the trade as "The Dollar Bills" should have demolished the script and had it rewritten.